Champion horse rider featured in parade

Tune into America's Thanksgiving Parade to see local world champion and her horses all blinged out

Holly Armstrong and her 16-year-old American Saddlebred horse Tabasco share some love as Armstrong grooms the horse at her Cohoctah Township home. Armstrong and several of her horses will appear not only in the Fantasy of Lights Parade, but in America's Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Detroit.(Photo: Gillis Benedict/Livingston Daily)

Reigning world champion parade horseback rider Holly Armstrong, of Cohoctah Township, will add another major accomplishment to her resume. She is thrilled to appear in America's Thanksgiving Parade, a nationally televised event held in Detroit.

Over 65 million people are expected to tune in Thanksgiving Day, according to the parade's website, so she plans to go all-out.

The current three-time consecutive Open Parade Horse World Champion through the American Saddlebred Association will ride with a few of her horseback riding students, "blinged out to the max" in silver equipment sets and Christmas-themed suits, she said.

Keep your eyes peeled, perhaps at around 11 a.m., which is Armstrong's best guess for when they will appear on TV.

"We are number 37," she said.

Five of her horseback riding students, whom she teaches at her Meadow Reflections Farm north of Howell, will also appear in America's Thanksgiving Parade. Olivia Byrd, 16, of Dexter; Madison Austin, 13, of Grand Blanc; and Jennifer Cunningham, a 30-something from Ohio; will ride award-winning American Saddlebreds in the parade. Colleen Dodd, a 20-something from the South Lyon area, and her mother, Deb Dodd, will walk along with them carrying a banner.

Armstrong will also ride in the Fantasy of Lights Parade, which begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 27 on Grand River Avenue in Howell, with student Kristen Young, 16, of Pinckney, along with Madison Austin and Colleen Dodd. They will ride two American Saddlebred horses and one American Paint horse.

"We'll all have matching Christmas suits with flowers, ribbons and wreaths. They will be illuminated with 250 lights per horse," she said.

Armstrong, who has been showing parade horses since 1999, collects vintage suits and parade saddles that date back decades. She has also made a lot of costumes herself.

When she takes her horses to events such as parades and expos, "people gather round to watch me get them ready" and go wild cheering when she shows them or does horseback riding demonstrations, she said.

Beyond the costumes, she thinks people are fascinated because they are "not typical horses," she said. "American Saddlebreds are high-stepping and animated. They are the Cadillac of horses. They are high-headed and alert."

Although not appearing in this year's parades, her world champion horse Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction, which she just calls Marcus, is her most famous horse.

He was the model for a 25th anniversary limited editing Breyer collectible model horse, which quickly sold out at 2014 Breyerfest.

She and Marcus were the official equine ambassadors for the 2015 Michigan State Fair, where the animal was "presented with his first blanket of roses," she said.

She and her horses have won over 80 accredited world and national titles, according to her bio.

Armstrong is humbled by all of the fanfare she and her horses have been getting lately, from the championship awards to being featured as a Breyer horse collectable — and now the chance to be in a nationally televised parade.

"Who would have thought that our little backyard farm would be getting so much attention?" she asked.

Contact Livingston Daily county and townships reporter Jennifer Eberbach at 517-548-7148 or at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTheWriter.